Bill Text: MS SC638 | 2012 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Recognize the 50th Anniversary remembrance of William Faulkner.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 10-4)
Status: (Passed) 2012-04-24 - Enrolled Bill Signed [SC638 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-SC638-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Tollison, Blount, Browning, Burton, Butler (38th), Carmichael, Chassaniol, Clarke, Fillingane, Gandy, Hopson, Kirby, Montgomery, Moran
Senate Concurrent Resolution 638
(As Adopted by Senate and House)
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE OF WILLIAM FAULKNER.
WHEREAS, July 6, 2012, marks the 50th Anniversary of the death of William Faulkner, the person most synonymous with Oxford and Lafayette County, Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, this summer in Oxford, the community is using the 50-year Anniversary of Faulkner's death as an opportunity to remember and honor the life and work of its most celebrated resident. The life and work of this Nobel prize-winning writer have been thoroughly studied and scrutinized, probed and appraised, inspected and dissected, analyzed and examined by academics and scholars from around the world; and
WHEREAS, in September of 1902, just before he turned five years old, Faulkner and his family moved to Oxford, and he raised his own family there. It was in Oxford where he first put pencil to paper, and where he went on to write the vast majority of his work; and
WHEREAS, the fictionalized world of Jefferson and Yoknapatawpha County that he created, as well as the characters he conjured to live in this world, were, in large part, Faulkner's literary reflection of Oxford, Lafayette County and the surrounding areas, as well as those who resided in that region. These were the places and people he knew best; and
WHEREAS, Faulkner's connection to the community made it all the more appropriate when the Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference was launched by the University of Mississippi to study and discuss Faulkner's life and work; and
WHEREAS, while many of the previous conferences have focused on some of the more esoteric aspects of Faulkner, such as "Faulkner and Postmodernism" or "Faulkner and Ideology," this year the 39th Annual Conference will bring writers, teachers, scholars and fans to Ole Miss and Oxford for a more general reflection on the writer's life and work with its theme, "Fifty Years After Faulkner"; and
WHEREAS, a writer's death is always significant, for biographers and literary critics especially, because it gives a complete shape of his life and career, and thus a more complete understanding of his achievement. In Faulkner's case, we have now had a half-century to think about that overall pattern, and to go deeper into it; and
WHEREAS, the remembrance will involve a screening of the 1969 film adaptation of "The Reivers" at The Lyric. Appropriately, the movie, which features performances by Steve McQueen, Rupert Crosse and Will Greer, will be screened in the same theater in Oxford that in 1933 hosted the local premiere of "Today We Live," the first film adapted from a Faulkner work, and the 1949 international premier of the movie based on a Faulkner work that was filmed in Oxford, "Intruder in the Dust"; and
WHEREAS, the organizers and sponsors of the William Faulkner Remembrance seek to create an event that will bring together Faulkner lovers, readers young and old, families, educators and students and other citizens from the town, county, university, state and beyond to recognize and celebrate Faulkner's extraordinary life and work, his ties to the community, and his formative contributions to the cultural life of the area; and
WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we invite the citizens of Mississippi to celebrate the life and work of Mississippi's most famous author:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we join the City of Oxford and Lafayette County in recognizing the 50th Anniversary Remembrance of William Faulkner and extend an invitation to all citizens to celebrate the life and work of this author.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of Oxford and the Board of Supervisors of Lafayette County, forwarded to the Mississippi Arts Commission, and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.
